Saturday, November 28, 2015

Top festive season instant-glam Beauty Hacks

The festive season is nearly upon us once more! I love all the glitter and glam of Christmas. Often during this time, there are spontaneous after work functions, drinks and forgotten invites which can leave you feeling a bit panicked with no time - or resources - to glam up. Also if you are like me and home with small children, prep-time can also be drastically limited. Gone are the days where my pre-party make-up and hair blowout routine used to last a good few leisurely hours.

Sienna Miller by Mario Testino for Vogue UK, October 2015
Here are a few speedy tips that can get you party-ready in minutes, the key being to have these items in your handbag, ready for use at any given moment.
1. Get up and glow!
Invest in a highlighting cream or powder to add light and a bit of glimmer. Apply to the apple of you cheek/cheekbones for an instant glow. It looks good high around the brow bone/under your brows and in the corners of your eyes - however stay away from crow's feet and creases, as it will highlight these too. I love MAC's strobe cream and would lover to try Charlotte Tilbury's Filmstar Bronze & Glow.

2. Refresh your hair
Invited to drinks or a party straight after work but your hair is a 'mare? If you're like me and get oily or lank hair if left unwashed for more than a day, you must carry a mini can of dry shampoo in your handbag. Rub it into fringe and roots to refresh your hair by soaking up excess oil and putting in some volume. I love Lee Stafford's little pink bottle and it smells like Thierry Mugler's Angel. I also love Batiste or Vo5 Refresh Me Quick Dry Shampoo. The tinted Batiste is great - just make sure you are careful with the brunette one, you can end up with a "sooty" looking forehead if you blast too much into your fringe.

3. Red lippie
A red lip is instant glam and can dress up an outfit. I'm a sucker for MAC's reds - Ruby Woo (very matte) or Russian Red a blue based mattes, Cockney (lustre/sheer) or Brave Red (cremesheen), which are both warm tomato-y, "yellow" based shades. For more great tips on wearing red lippie, check here. You can also use a smidge of lipstick blended into the apple of your cheeks for blusher if caught short.

4. Ugly feet saver
Grab a wee bottle of Sweet Almond Oil to keep at work, it is a lifesaver! Many times I've been caught short with no pedicure or nail colour but wanting to wear strappy shoes. Massage a bit of sweet almond oil into your feet to eradicate yucky dry patches and into your nails. The oil will give them an instant fresh shine. Also, keep your toe nails clipped regularly! Almond oil is also a fantastic moisturizer for dry patches, moisturizes and shines up dull legs, helps reduce dark circles under your eyes and is great for frizzy hair and split ends.

5. Smoky eye
Another instant glam up - the smoky eye. I carry around a soft black eyeliner which I can throw on a smudge for an instant smoky look. My fave is Benefit's Badgal liner, which is blackest of black and soft enough to smudge. A cat's eye flick is also a quick way to glam up your make-up to a more festive look.

6. Fragrance
A veil of your go-to night out fragrance will give you an instant pick me up. I love Viktor & Rolf's Flowerbomb and Thierry Mugler's Angel.

7. Tired eyes
Black circles and/or bags after a long day? Smooth on some serum and cover with a good under eye concealer like the legend that is Yves Saint Laurent's Touche Éclat, or try Benefit's brightening concealer Erase Paste or Fake Up, a double duty product which will also sooth and hydrate the area. Almond Oil also gets rid of puffiness and lightens dark circles, containing Vitamin K and antioxidants. Rub gently under the eyes each evening preferably. It will hydrate too. Always be very gentle with this delicate area - we don't want to encourage wrinkles by pulling the skin.

8. Caffeine & hydrate
Chug a coffee for a caffeine hit and follow by a big glass of water to perk yourself up for a big night out.  Coffee is a diuretic, but it will give you an energy boost. Keep hydrated throughout the night, low hydration can cause not only fatigue, but nasty headaches - especially when you're drinking alcohol.

9. Nail it
If you do have a little window to do it, paint your nails! A bright blingy shade with glitter or sequins always puts me in the holiday season. OPI always seems to have great holiday shades.

10. Glitterati
This is a trick I used many years ago at the make-up counter in Harrods. Grab some eye glitter and pat it on top of an eye serum around the brow bone, or on lids for a sparkly party look. The serum acts as a "glue" and you can apply on top of your eyeliner or eye-shadow. I love Barry M Fine Glitter Dust.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Liv a Little - Liv Tyler Coolness

Liv Tyler was one of my fashion icons in the 90's, and I've enjoyed watching her evolution. A big Aerosmith fan, I discovered Liv was the daughter of Steven Tyler when she was modeling and cast with Alicia Silverstone as renegade rock chick/jail bait characters for their video for Crazy, then debuting in Empire Records in 1995 and splashed all over the media by the time she starred in Bernardo Bertolucci's Stealing Beauty in 1996.
"I remember taking a call from an interviewer when I was really young and they asked me, 'What do you want to be when you grow up?' and I said, 'Excuse me, can you hold on?' I put the phone on my lap and asked my mum. She said, 'Baby, you're going to be an actress.' And so that's what I said," she recalled. "It was such a weird moment, and not like in a stage-mum way, it was like she could see my future with a crystal ball." British Vogue, November 2015
Liv and Bebe Buell, 1993

"Tyler credits her mother's wardrobe as one of the first places she felt pretty. "She had such amazing style. It was a great moment - I was born in '77, so it was the 80s and she had such a mix of things... amazing gloves and corsets. It was what we think of as how Madonna dressed at that time, but it was before Madonna. As I was just a little girl, it was so fun!" Mytheresa.com

Details magazine

Nylon cover by Helena Christensen

Liv was everywhere in the late 90's, lauded for her laid back, cool & effortlessly sexy rock chick style. She was also the inaugural cover girl for painfully hip Nylon magazine in 1999, shot by Helena Christensen. In the 90's, I loved her grunge style - slip dresses, shrunken crop tops and rock tees, she was all hair and bee stung lips. “I absolutely love ’90s style—it’s amazing!” cheers Liv Tyler. “I think it’s back a little bit now, but whether it’s in or out, I love it and try to honor and re-create it all the time. The freedom was great; there was a lot of individualism at that time that I really miss.” Vogue
 
Liv & Bebe Buell, Stealing Beauty premiere 1996
and Inventing the Abbotts premiere, 1997 & 

"Everything has changed so much in fashion and beauty since the Nineties, when I was starting out. I remember going to the Stealing Beauty premiere, and I loved Dolce & Gabbana so I reached out to them to borrow a dress and they sent me one. I think I had my hair done.But I would go to things all the time where I did my own hair and makeup. Or, when I did Inventing the Abbotts with Joaquin Phoenix, we were dating at the time, and I threw on this red Prada dress with my weird vintage coat for the premiere. I remember Gwyneth [Paltrow] came to the premiere for Armageddon and danced with me at the after-party and she had no makeup on, this little slip dress and no bra, and maybe flip-flops. It was just a different time. There weren’t as many paparazzi, the red carpets weren’t what they are now—there’s a lot of scrutiny going on and the maintenance is intense! Think about seeing Julia Roberts on the red carpet in the late 80s and early 90s in a suit with no makeup on, and that was OK. I sort of miss those days a little bit." Into The Gloss
                     Liv & longtime friend Kate Moss                      Liv & Stella McCartney (1999)

"I was going through my storage and I found all these gowns that Alexander McQueen made for me. Like one I wore to the Lord of the Rings premiere in Paris. It's like this crazy rainbow thing, so he made it for me in pink. And this amazing black feathered cape - I'm [still] very excited about that piece." Mytheresa.com
In Alexander McQueen, Lord of the Rings Paris premiere 2002

I don't remember seeing Liv a lot in the media in the noughties - apart from publicity for her role as Arwen in Lord of the Rings (2001-2003). I presume she was busy being mum to son Milo (born 2004), then struggling with her divorce from husband #1, rocker Royston Langdon of Spacehog (married 2003-2008). Fast forward 20 years and I find myself loving the ensembles I see her wearing in her every day life as she is papped stepping out of her New York brownstone. Last year pregnant with #2 by Dave Gardner, I admired her maternity style. Still effortless, Liv can seamlessly weave designer chic with casual cool and a grunge sensibility with her floral tea dresses and plaid, with a bit of rocker leopard print thrown in to boot. To me, it seems like this is Liv dressing herself as she pops put to run errands - a rare thing in stylist obsessed celeb-land. “I cannot say there’s one [fashion influence] specifically. My grandmother is incredibly elegant — very detail-oriented with her taste — and my mother was always a very free spirit. I would watch her get dressed, and she was always in bands and a little more rock ‘n’ roll. So I had that mix of classic and this rebellious, fresh thing.” Harpers Bazaar. Some of my fave current outfits are shared below.
 
Maternity style
Liv moved to LA in 2008 after separating from Royston Langdon. "Langdon was born and brought up in Leeds, and Tyler enthusiastically embraced Yorkshire life when the couple married. Locals were amazed to spot her drinking in the local working men's club in the suburb of Headingley and shopping in Safeway. She remains a committed Anglophile and counts Kate Moss among her closest friends. She described the supermodel as "the most stylish person I know. I love playing dress-up with her and her closet." Telegraph 2010
I have just seen this fabulous spread in British Vogue styled by Kate Moss. She's never looked better and is looking super stylish. The new relationship and motherhood obviously agree with her. "Kate is a magical unicorn. She was doing all these poses for me and I was trying to mimic her," she told fashion features director Sarah Harris of the accompanying shoot. "I love how she doesn't give a fuck, she just moves in these free ways, and of course what I was doing didn't look anything like what she was doing. I felt like a total amateur."British Vogue, November 2015

Into The Woods: Liv Tyler by Venetia Scott for Vogue UK November 2015.
Photographer: Venetia Scott
Fashion Editor/Stylist: Kate Moss
Hair: James Brown
Make-up: Miranda Joyce

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